Are Yoga Toes A Gimmick?

I received a pair of yoga toes at work, brought them home and forgot about them.  That is ... until two weeks ago.  Now I'm obsessed with trying them out to see if they are of any benefit.  Yoga toes are sold as a natural way to stretch your toes and exercise your feet.  Enthusiasts claim they make toes and ankles more flexible, feet stronger, improve the circulation of your legs, stretch your leg muscles, realign foot structure, improve your arches, alleviate stress and correct common foot problems, such as bunions, hammer toes and varicose veins.

Well when you put a pair on, you definitely feel the lifting and spreading of your toes.  Yelp, that much is true.  The advise is, begin wearing yoga toes for 10 minutes, building up to one hour.  My tip is, slide your little toe into the stretcher-thingy first before the others.

Although I could immediately wear mine for an hour, or longer [fell asleep on my couch with them on], as well as, walk around my apartment to get stuff, I can't honestly say I feel or see a difference when I take them off.  After two weeks of daily wear, my feet feel exactly the same.

Some foot specialists do recommend them for soothing foot pain caused by squeezing feet into narrow shoes and high heels.  And according to UCLA's Dr. Carol Frey, a professor of orthopedic surgery, there's no real need to spend $39 - $49 for YogaToes.  Dr. Frey says yoga toes "are a straightforward design," so the cheap ones work the same "as long as they stretch the toes just enough without pain."  So buy the $10 knockoffs.  

I'm giving my yoga toes a month to do something spectacular for my active feet.  I'm w.a.i.t.i.n.g. ♬♪♪♫ and keeping an open mind.  What about you? 

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M. Mac: The Rock Fish Dress

It happened again.  I wore the shorter length of this classic Rock Fish dress in pubic, and a pedestrian approached to tell me how cute it looks.  In fact, I receive more attention for this all cotton dress than for any other garment in my wardrobe.  The fish dress comes in several colors, styles and lengths.  Essentially, it's a big, comfortable t-shirt with tailored armholes and side slits.  The two dresses I have fall just above the knee.  They are summer staples I wear to work, on errands, or as a beach cover up.  The dresses are so versatile, I can dress them up or down with ballet flats, Mary Janes or flip flops.  The fish dress is a basic, I always pack for vacations also.

  

The fabric is very durable.  The dresses can be machine washed and dried many times over.  I don't even iron mine, and they still manage to look polished.

Who would predict that a simple, practical dress could attract such public attention?  But the Rock Fish dress does.  People always ask me where they can get it, and now they know.  To order click the M. Mac link and speak to Jamie.

Other patterns are available, including these.

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Micro Apartments Are Coming To Manhattan

 New York City: You are looking Uptown, East side; click to enlarge.

Here in New York City you grow accustomed to seeing small apartments and weird configurations when you enter other people's homes (not to mention an occasional "only in New York" fetish, it is best to overlook.  Ooh, that's an entirely different discussion).  But now Mayor Michael Bloomberg has launched a plan for a residential building in Kips Bay [at 335 East 27th Street, near First Avenue] to develop teeny-tiny, cubical apartments, about half the size of a subway car.  According to local newspapers, he will have to suspend zoning laws in order to build the 80 proposed micro units, which are to be even smaller than what developers can now build.  Currently, apartments must be 400 square feet or larger.

The proposed micro units will measure between 275 and 300 square feet.  The flats will only be 10-by-30 feet.  Bloomberg says it's the wave of the future.  Presently, 75% of Manhattan residents live alone, or with one other person, and there is a shortage of studios and one-bedrooms.  Average studio apartments now rent for $2,000 a month.  Rent for the cubbyhole apartments is to be determined, but city officials expect it to be below market rate.  It will be interesting to find out, just how much lower.  And you know what?  Whatever the asking price, people will line up to pay it.  These units will go.

Bloomberg has launched a contest, asking architects to come up with a winning design for the units.  All must be well-lit and have kitchens, bathrooms and a sleeping-dining area.  (Hmm, I'm thinking futon.  And forget about entertaining.)

It's not a bad idea to create affordable [that's a relative term in a big city] housing, but when is a space too small?  Realistically, how far could you downsize to live in a desired area?  Can you imagine not having anywhere to go during a television commercial?  Arghhh!!! 

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Hairstyles: Pretty Braids

Genetics are fascinating.  Often times when children are born, recessive genes win out.  Both of my parents had curly hair, but my hair is straight.  (My mom is still trying to understand how and why.)  My curly-haired friend, Cara S., also has a daughter with straight hair.  Some people said Lindsay looked like me, a remark that delighted her growing up, since I got to be the fun Auntie, who came for visits.  But I'm digressing.

As a teenager, my mom thought I should have curly hair and encouraged me to roll it.  It's a good thing, I totally ignored her.  Curly ringlets are pretty, but I never once minded having straight hair.  Straight hair is an easy style to maintain, and yet, you can do a lot with it.  In the summer, it's fun to braid sections of it.  I love YouTube for its hair tutorials, showing you how to braid hair, step-by-step.  Right now, my favorites are a waterfall braid (here) and one called a same-side lace braid (here).  Click on The Cute Girl's Hairstyle channel (here) for other ideas.

How in the world did any of us learn anything before YouTube?

And a word to my parent, who continues to have an opinion about my hair:  Mom, there are two types of people on the planet: People who have straight hair (me!), and people who wish they had straight hair (you!).  

All kidding aside, my mom has lovely curls, which flatter her face.  Obviously, there is no one standard of beauty (mom!).  Embrace whatever your hair type is ... and work with it.  Curly, wavy, or straight, it's all good.

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A Fancy Vanilla Cake

Photo by Anna Spiro/Absolutely Beautiful Things

I equate summer with birthdays, holidays and fun.  Perhaps that's why despite the heat, I adore summer so!  In my family, we make a lot of cakes over the summer months, more than at other times of the year.  Is there anything better than a simple flavored, but moist vanilla cake?  You don't have to use the food coloring for the layers, but trust me, guests love it!  You will hear squeals from “kids” of all ages if you make the extra effort.  Go here for the original recipe.  Here are the ingredients I use:

Vanilla Cake in Color:

Ingredients:

3 cups flour [I use 2 cups all-purpose and 1 cup whole wheat], plus ¼ cup 
 more if needed to get a just right (not too stiff, or runny) batter.  Eyeball it.

4 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups sugar

1 ½ cups milk

5 eggs

2 sticks (16 tablespoons) butter

4 teaspoons vanilla [I like to taste the vanilla.  Get the good stuff from Mexico or Madagascar.]

gel food coloring, assorted: blue, red, purple, orange, etc. [Liquid food coloring is too weak.]

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, add one ingredient at a time (except for the food coloring), and beat with a mixer until smooth.

2. Divide the batter, evenly, into 4 or 5 (your choice) separate bowls, and add a different food coloring to each bowl.

3. Pour into separate, well-greased cake pans.  Bake each at 350 degrees F for about 12 minutes, or until golden brown.

4. Take out of the oven.  While warm (not hot, it will fall apart; not cold, it will stick to the pan), remove the cakes from their pans and let cool.

5. Stack the cakes (bottoms up, i.e. the flat sides up) and frost in between each layer.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

Indredients:

3 cups confectionary sugar

4 tablespoons butter, melted (½ stick)

½ cup milk, more or less.  Add a little at a time.

3 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

Throw the ingrediants into a bowl and beat with a mixer until smooth.  Add as much confectionary sugar as needed to get a stiff, creamy icing.  Frost the top, sides and each layer of the cake.  Tip: Professional bakers usually frost a cake once, refrigerate it, then frost it again before they decorate it.

Serve at your next party and enjoy! 

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BB Cream: The Secret Of Korean Actresses

These brands are formulated For Western markets.

BB Cream is a big makeup craze in Asia (with men too!), and it's quickly spreading to the West.  Created by German dermatologist, Dr. Christine Schrammek in the 50s, to protect and heal skin after laser surgeries, it eventually gained popularity in Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia and is now hitting markets in Europe and the US.

"BB," short for Blemish Balm, is sold as an all-in-one beauty cream.  Depending on the formula you buy, it works as a moisturizer, primer, foundation and sunblock with anti-aging effects.  Reportedly, the cream feels lightweight and looks completely natural.  It covers skin imperfections and gives you a radiant and dewy appearance.  Plus, BB cream absorbs into the skin for a matte finish.  Overtime, the product is supposed to improve your skin, making it smoother and minimizing some of the signs of aging with it's anti-inflammatory properties.

Asian brands include Missha, The Face Shop, Skin79 and Etude House.

Dior, Clinique, Estee Lauder, Garnier, L'Oreal and Dr. Jart are amoung the first Western companies to launch BB creams.  With Smashbox, Maybelline, Marcelle and others following.

Sounds promising, doesn't it?  I'm always looking for multi-taskers.  Sunblock with a matte finish ... of course!!!   I don't even wear foundation, but hey, if you can't feel it, and cosmetic companies want to throw that in too ... fine.  Personally, I'm itching to try the original Asian brands.  How about you?

Etude House BB cream for men

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A Father's Day Memory

When I was a child both of my parents worked, so once when my Dad went on a short trip out of town, he took me along, but Mom stayed home.  We left the family car with her, packed a single suitcase and took a Greyhound bus across the state to a small town. I was 4 years old at the time, but remember bits and pieces of the trip vividly.  It was before people were in the habit of carrying personal bottles of water, and on the bus ride, I remember telling Dad I was thirsty. He told me to chew a stick of Doublemint gum until we got to a rest stop, and indeed, it helped.

After we arrived at our destination, we spent the afternoon hanging out downtown before later being picked up to spend the rest of our trip with my grandfather.  Man, that was a fun afternoon!  Just Dad and me, bumming around a rustic, sloping, sleepy, concrete town.  We hung out at a soda joint, eating burgers and fries.  We played pinball, which turned out to be one of Dad's hidden talents.  He racked up lots of points in several games, as well as, taught me how to shoot the metal balls to hit the various targets, setting off bells and whistles and lights.  We spent time in a magazine-smoke shop and a record store, plus encountered a charming, elderly lady on the street who recognized Dad and seemed happy to see him.  She referred to Dad as my grandfather's “baby boy,” and I was surprised and delighted to hear it.  We finished off our afternoon, back at the soda shop, sharing a banana split before our ride picked us up.

A few years later, we became a two car family, but nothing tops the trip where we had to board a Greyhound bus, kill time and wait for our ride.  Happy Father's Day to fathers everywhere!

A song from the popular album.

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